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Why Sign with Your Child?

Sign language in early childhood has been carefully researched for over 25 years, documenting a multitude of benefits for both parent and child.

By: Cyndi Johnson, Advanced Signing Time Instructor

Some parents and caregivers have the impression that signing with infants and young children is a just a trend in parenting—a passing fad. But if you think about it, the simple act of using nonverbal gestures to communicate with little ones has been going on for decades (just think of how excited grandma gets when her 9-month-old granddaughter waves bye-bye for the first time!). And sign language in early childhood has been carefully researched for over 25 years, documenting a multitude of benefits for both parent and child.

When I first began signing with my son, A (now age 5), I admit that I was caught up in the “hype” of “baby signing” and taught myself the basics while I was yet pregnant. After he was born, we took a music/signing class together, and I began using several signs with him at home. Much to my delight, Aidan signed “milk” around 6 months of age and continued learning new “words” at an astonishing rate. By 13 months, he was using over 100 signs! However, around 18 months of age, he was speaking in full sentences and quickly lost interest in signing.

Then along came my daughter R, born with Down syndrome. I knew instinctively that signing with her was anything but faddish. When I learned that hearing loss is common among children with Down syndrome, and that their speech and language is significantly delayed, I was determined to provide R the tools to communicate with her hands. Now at age 3, her primary means of communication is sign language, as she uses nearly 300 signs to say just about anything she needs or wants. However, she surprises me every day with her new spoken words, and is even learning to “read” using sign language–she signs the words when we’re practicing her sight-word flashcards!

But what does all this have to do with signing with your child? Besides the joy of spending quality, bonding time face to face in the miracle of two-way communication with your preverbal infant or child, American Sign Language (ASL) is the 3rd most frequently used language in the United States. So signing with your child provides them experience with a hands-on second language. But there’s much more.

The carefully documented research on signing is universally positive. Overall, studies suggest that typically-developing children who learn to sign in early childhood

may have higher IQ scores than those who do not sign

may have reduced tantrums

speak sooner, have larger vocabularies, and use longer sentences than those who do not sign

Linda P. Acredolo and Susan W. Goodwyn found that the claim of increased I.Q. held up through age eight. Children who learned physical gesturing and signs showed an increased I.Q. of between 8 and 13 points, compared to the equivalent groups who were not taught signing. This not only greatly increased early language skills but the I.Q. difference was still apparent when the same groups were tested years later.

Further, the results... strongly support the hypothesis that symbolic gesturing facilitates the early stages of verbal language development. In a significant proportion of the comparisons between these two groups, infants who augmented their fledgling vocal vocabularies with symbolic gestures outperformed those who did not. The fact that no such advantage was found for the infants in the Verbal Training group provides reassuring evidence that the superior performance of the ST infants was not simply a function of their families being involved in a language-centered intervention program. The explanation seems to lie instead within the gesturing experience itself.

TODDLER TEMPERS LESSENED, COMMUNICATION INCREASED.

Acredolo, Goodwin, and Catherine Brown found that the availability of symbolic gestures for at least some of the important things in their child’s life made communication easier and interactions more positive. Request gestures (e.g., MORE, OUT) helped children get their needs met without crying, symbols for specific foods (e.g., CRACKERS, CHEERIOS) provided important clarification, animal gestures (e.g., MONKEY, GIRAFFE) helped them become active partners during book-reading, descriptive gestures (e.g., HOT, AFRAID) helped them share important insights about their environment, and all of the gestures helped clarify the children’s initial, crude verbal labels (e.g., “Oh! You’re doing your TURTLE gesture. I guess Tata means ‘turtle!’).

CHILDREN WHO SIGN IN EARLY CHILDHOOD SPEAK SOONER.

Signing seems to “jump start” their verbal skills and love of communicating. From the same papers by Acredolo, Goodwyn and Brown, they reported: Parents need not worry about jeopardizing their child’s vocal language development in order to take advantage of this easy alternative to words. In fact, the data demonstrate clearly that the symbolic gesturing experience seems to “jump start” verbal development.

All research information is provided courtesy of Two Little Hands Productions.

Feature Video

From The Blog

By Glen Hoos
You knew this wasn't going to be a typical night at the theatre when the lead actor interrupted his lines to give a shout out his mom from the smoky stage, and she enthusiastically called back in response from the audience.
Indeed, there’s nothing typical at all about King Arthur's Night, a radically inclusive play in which generous ad-libbing and spontaneous improvisation are par for the course – and key to its substantial charm. The (very!) creative adaptation of the King Arthur legend, which had its Vancouver debut Wednesday evening as part of the PuSh Festival, is the product of a collaboration between Vancouver's NeWorld Theatre and the Down Syndrome Research Foundation, and springs from the fertile imagination of writer and star Niall McNeil and his co-creator Marcus Youssef.
McNeil, who has Down syndrome, first worked with Youssef on Peter Panties, an adaptation of Peter Pan which was presented at the 2011 PuSh Festival. In the audience was then-DSRF Executive Director Dawn McKenna, who expressed a desire to partner together in the future.
"Niall and I were commissioned by Luminato to write a King Arthur adaptation," recalls Youssef – a project that would ultimately be five years in the making, fueled by McNeil's extensive research into the legend. "Our Director Jamie Long, our Musical Director Veda Hille, and Niall and I started teaching classes at the Down Syndrome Research Foundation, which is where we met Tiffany King (Guinevere), Andrew Gordon (The Saxon) and Matthew Tom-Wing (Magwitch). We all agreed they were the three we all wanted to be in our show."
The DSRF students joined Niall in integrating seamlessly with the professional cast, which is bolstered on stage by a live band and 20-person choir. Together, they deliver a delightfully offbeat rendition of the Arthur tale featuring nods to local fixtures like Harrison Hot Springs, modern twists like the iPad that a lovestruck Lancelot gifts to Guinevere, and a fearsome goat army that… well, you just have to see it to get it.
The play opened to a rapturous response from the standing room only crowd at UBC's Frederic Wood theatre, the first of five almost-sold-out performances. The cast was clearly thrilled. "We love it so much; it's so much fun!" gushes leading lady King.
To Youssef and his colleagues, King Arthur's Night is so much more than just another play. In fact, he gets choked up as he reflects on what this project means to him.
"I have learned more than I can say. Beginning with my collaboration with Niall on Peter Panties and then extending it to this bigger collaboration with these guys… honestly, it makes me a bit emotional to talk about it. It's been the deepest learning experience I've ever had. There is a very big difference between what we thought they would capable of when we started and what they are now doing in the show, which is not only a whole bunch of cool acting stuff, but also some really beautiful, present performance that all the professionals in the ensemble are learning tons from. I just would have said, 'There's no way.' My perspective of what it means to be a person in the world has radically changed."
If McNeil has his way, King Arthur's Night is just the beginning. Later this spring, he's off to the Stratford Festival in Ontario, where he'll sit in on rehearsals of The Tempest at the invitation of the festival's Artistic Director, Anthony Cimolino. He's also currently working on two new adaptations: Beauty and the Beast, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
"Marcus isn’t able to do these with me, but there are other playwrites who can help me too," McNeil affirms confidently.
True enough, Youssef admits. "Niall’s working on a bunch of stuff; I of course can’t be involved in every single thing he does." But that doesn’t mean he’s finished with inclusive art projects, or working alongside a partner with whom he shares a special, brotherly chemistry on stage.
"We're very hopeful that in the fall we'll be able to start a once-a-week collaboratory ensemble including these guys, our professional actors, and maybe some new folks too, where we just make up new stuff, and maybe a show will come out of that," he says. And there may yet be more to come for King Arthur's Night, too: "Nothing's confirmed yet, but I'm optimistic there will be more presentations of this show in other places around North America."
That's good news for the stars of the show, who are in no way ready to give up the spotlight. Asked whether he wants to continue acting, Gordon doesn't hesitate. "All the time! It's always super cool."
King Arthur's Night will be performed daily through Feb. 4 as part of the PuSh Festival. Click here for tickets.